It’s me! (Faith) I hope you haven’t forgotten me! At the moment I am sitting on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica enjoying the sunshine and being attacked by maniac pigeons. Life is so hard at the moment! Living in Paris, no commitments, no parents, no responsibility, as much pain au chocolat as I can possibly eat. It’s a terrible life! I’m thinking of coming back to England because I feel so terrible- I really do miss the rain. Haha! Just kidding! But I do miss you; and Siri. I think my heart is breaking from being away from you for so long! Haha! I shall never be the same!

Anyways…. I am here, in Paris, gorging myself on croissants and hot chocolate. I’m going to look like a walrus by the time you see me again. I have to go somewhere thinning next. India maybe? I’ll get ill and lose loads of weight and then get back to my usual stunning self! At the moment I look like Slughorn after Christmas supper!

I’ve got a job. No, it’s not in a brothel. I haven’t sunk as low as prostitution…. Yet! Oh don’t scowl like that Reg! I jest! It’s just in a café. It’s boring. But at least I have some money and have managed to buy new strings for my guitar. I will spend the next week singing only Elvis Presley songs. He died! I think I may go into hiding now! It’s so sad! I’m not sure if you know who I’m talking about Reg, but hopefully you do. All my time wasted on educating you hasn’t come to nothing has it?

But enough of that. Send me your news! Good luck with school! Say hello to Circe for me! (Break up with her and come back to me my love!) You are my one and only! I love you sugarplum! (Too much maybe?)

Au Revoir mon amie!

Faith AKA Ruler of the known universe

***

Sirius arrived at The Potter’s house in Godric’s Hollow late in the evening of the twenty-fifth of August. Having travelled for two hours from London on the night-bus, he was feeling somewhat groggy.

Merlin, I need to take my apparation test, he thought as he knocked on the large wooden door. No one answered, so Sirius let himself in.

“Hello?” he called. He heard voices in the kitchen and smiled to himself, closing the door behind him.

Remus Lupin was already there. He appeared in the corridor, grinning from ear to ear.

“Mate.” Remus hugged Sirius. “It’s been way too long!”

“Moooooooonyy!” Sirius laughed.

Sirius let go of Remus and deposited his bag by the stairs. “Where’s Prongs?”

“In the kitchen with Mr and Mrs- they’re going out tomorrow night and giving prongs ‘the talk’” Remus laughed rolling his eyes. It was a well known fact that Mr and Mrs Potter were the most relaxed parents in the world, ‘the talk’ was their idea of acting like normal parents and which consisted of warnings like; “Don’t set the house on fire”, “Don’t drink arsenic” and “Don’t poison your guests with your terrible cooking- get a takeaway”

Sirius grinned, it was great to be back; the Potter’s house really felt like home.

He followed Remus into the kitchen.

“Padfoot!” James Potter roared before jumping up and tackling Sirius to the ground.

“Nice to see you too Prongsy!” Sirius laughed.

“It’s gonna be crazy tomorrow night man, everyone’s coming!” James squealed, his crazy black hair flopping everywhere as he bounced excitedly. He was wearing a usual pair of denim jeans and a humongous red knitted jumper with a reindeer on the front.

“Jumper?” Sirius enquired.

“Marlene got it for me.” James blushed as he got up from on top of Sirius.

Sirius looked confused so James continued; “Well she bought it to give to me at Christmas but then we broke up. She gave it to me last week when we…”

“I didn’t notice.” Sirius drawled, following James upstairs into one of the many spare bedrooms of the house.

The room was the same one Sirius always slept in. Although it had very much the ‘spare room’ look about it, there were traces of Sirius everywhere; A pair of jeans neatly folded on the bed from the last time he came to stay, a bottle of aftershave or ‘eau de Padfoot’ as James liked to call it on the dressing table and a poster of the Appleby Arrows hanging above the bed.

Sirius flopped down on the bed, “So who exactly is coming tomorrow night?”

*~*~*~*

“Who invited him?” Sirius whispered to Remus.

James’s party had started and it was going really well. The fire whiskey was being handed round generously and anyone who was anyone at Hogwarts had turned up. Everyone knew James’s parties weren’t to be missed and this, this was heading towards being the best party of the summer holidays.

“I don’t know” Remus giggled back, “Whoever did is going to be killed by Prongs.”

They were both staring at the front door where a boy with bright blond hair and the whitest set of gleaming teeth had just walked through.

“Do you think we should get rid of him before Prongs sees?” Remus asked a little more seriously.

“Na, I’m looking forward to seeing Prongs beat him up; comical… bet Lockhart fights like a girl.” Sirius drawled, knocking back the rest of his whiskey. It was only an hour in to the party and the drink was already having its effects; his hands shook unsteadily.

“Then how does he get the girls? Does that mean girls find girls attractive?” Remus blurted. The drink was obviously having an effect on him too; he was in his ‘thinking out loud’ frame of mind.

They were both suddenly distracted by two identical boys carrying another boy; one at his feet and one at his head, giggling as they came through from the main body of the party.

“Black, where’s the lake?” One of the twins asked. Sirius couldn’t tell if it was Will or Freddy North, no one could tell them apart.

“Who is that?” Sirius laughed. He couldn’t see the face of the victim as he was wrapped up in one of the potters ‘nice’ table cloths from the dining room.

“Some Hufflepuff; he was being a little too nice and loyal for our liking; told us not too take the piss out of Lockhart” The other twin giggled.

The North twins were Ravenclaws and were known for being notoriously anti-Hufflepuff and infamous trouble makers. Their initiations were always insanely crude and de-moralising to the victim, but somehow they always got away with it; people liked them, end of.

“Must have been the one that invited Lockhart then… He arrived a few minutes ago.” Remus mused.

“Really? Wow, ooh exciting! We should have a throwing the Puff into the lake competition!” The same twin rushed excitedly.

“We could see how quickly they sink because they’re so dense!” The other finished. Making his brother howl with laughter. Sirius and Remus grinned.

Sirius walked away from Remus knowing full well he shouldn’t be drinking anymore; every party was the same, every morning after was agony.

He strolled into the kitchen where most of the people were sitting around the central island playing a drinking game.

“I’ve never fancied a siblings girlfriend or boyfriend.” A girl he didn’t recognise slurred from the opposite side of the table. After saying this she burst into long loud sobs, drinking a large gulp of her fire whiskey. Her friends surrounded her, giving her half-hearted pats on the back. “I just love him so much!” She wailed. A few other people around the table after taking reassuring sideways glances took a sip.

If only there was an anti-drink in this game; Sirius thought, thinking about Circe Harper

He was bored, male instincts were surely to come into play in a couple of drinks, maybe he should go and find Mary; an easy snog.

Sirius was about to turn away from the group playing the drinking game when a familiar voice piped up beside him.

“Hello stranger.” Hope Dornbrook grinned.

“Hope!” Sirius grinned from ear to ear, picking her up in a massive bear hug and swinging her around. “Where have you been all summer?” he mumbled into her hair. “I’ve missed you so much!”

“Ooh Baby cakes I am sorry” She laughed pinching one of Sirius’s cheeks. “Look, on a more serious note you haven’t seen my new beau have you?”

“New? Cheating on me, are we Hopsie? Not another Hufflepuff I ‘hope’?” he winked.

“Ha fucking ha, got it in one Black.” And as an after thought, “don’t worry it isn’t Lockhart.”

“I should ‘hope’ not” Sirius drawled, looking at his still empty glass; he’d need a re-fill soon. “When was the last time you saw him?”

“Going off with the North Twins…” Hope said ignoring Sirius’s favourite game of putting ‘hope’ as many times into a conversation with her. “To be honest, I’m not too fussed; he’s been clingy all evening, nice to get some breathing space.”

“Haaaa, lucky then, your not going to see him for a while. Who is he anyway?” Sirius grinned to himself thinking it was best not to tell Hope exactly where her boyfriend had actually got to.

“Otto Bagman, he’s really nice.” She smiled.

“Ha don’t give me that ‘Butt rough but has a nice personality’ bullshit! Why are you going out with him? He’s such a freak…”

“Just because he’s better than you at Quidditch…” Hope Laughed.

“HE IS NOT!!” Sirius thundered. “We beat Hufflepuff last year!”

“Only because you hit Caradoc Dearborn over the head with your beaters bat when no one was watching…” Hope laughed.

“What?! How do you know that? I thought no one saw!” Sirius cried, still grinning.

“I do have eyes Siri and I think some other people do too…Poor guy was in hospital for a week and everyone now thinks he’s a crap flyer who just ‘fell off’ his broom!”

“Your sticking up for him? I thought you were in Gryffindor?! Wait… your not going out with him as well…? Disgusting Hufflepuff fetish.” Sirius grinned.

They were standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the front entrance so they were continuously being interrupted by girls death staring Hope and winking at Sirius.

“Nope, went out with him last year and y’know my rule…” Hope said just a Remus Lupin walked up to join them. Hope smiled politely at Remus then turned to walk into the kitchen.

“I hate that rule.” Remus groaned.

They were both referring to Hope’s ‘no going out with the same boy twice’ rule. Remus had gone out with Hope for the whole of First and Second year but had broken up with her due to his ‘Furry little problem’. Now Remus was madly in love with Hope and could do nothing about it because of her stupid rule.

“Look at the way she just turned and walked away from me Padfoot! She hates me!” Remus cried.

Sirius shrugged, he didn’t have the effort to say the same words that he told Remus every day; that she didn’t hate him and that she just didn’t ‘know’ him anymore.

“Look, I might go out for a cigarette…” Sirius said awkwardly; he was not the sober Sirius who would cheer Remus up with comfort, he was the drunk Sirius who thought cigarettes and alcohol solved every problem: “Wanna come?”

“Nope, I’m not in the mood. I just don’t understand why she hates me so much!” He whined. Sirius winced, it was the emotional drunk Remus coming out… Remus went through three stages of drunkness:

1. His speaking out loud stage (very funny)

2. The emotional stage. (not so funny)

3. Irrational stage (not funny at all)

The irrational stage was the worst. Remus had done some pretty stupid things when this drunk including jumping into the black lake to ‘kill the giant squid’ (James had to fish him out), confessing his undying love for the best looking girl in school when he was a 3rd year and worst of all shouting “I’m a werewolf!” from the top of the astronomy tower (Sirius had had to wipe the memory of two first years).

Sirius turned away from Remus and walked out the front door where the North twins had walked out half an hour before.

The gravel crunched under his feet as he walked across the drive way towards a bench under the beech tree on the other side.

He sat down and lit his cigarette, sighing deeply as all the frustration seeped out of him. A bird flew over his head and landed on the branch above him, he inhaled more smoking.

He was still worrying about Regulus, who had been almost suicidal since Circe’s departure. Sirius had invited him to James’s but Regulus had refused. Merlin he was angry at Circe; who did she think she was playing around with his brother like that?

Anger pounded in his head. “Circe” he whispered, seething as if saying her name might release some of his anger. It didn’t, it only made the bird on the tree above take flight.

Sirius finished his cigarette and picked up his still empty glass and was about to make his way towards the house again when the North twins joined him, still giggling.

“Hello you two” Sirius drawled. “What have you done?” the look of cheeky guilt on Fred and Will’s faces gave them away instantly.

“Well…” One of them started.

“We couldn’t find the lake so…” The other continued.

“We sort of…”

“Tied every Puff we could find to a tree!” the second finished giggling uncontrollably. His brother was on the floor laughing.

“What are you guys on?” Sirius asked exasperated but still grinning.

“Nothing” the first stated.

“Na-ha nothing at all!” His twin confirmed.

Sirius offered them both a cigarette and then a light. He liked the North twins. They pissed him off like hell sometimes but they never failed to lighten his mood.

“Who did you tie to the tree?” Sirius asked between drags of his cigarette, “I didn’t think that that many Hufflepuffs were invited…”

The North twins looked at each other. Sirius could hear their brains ticking. They were in Ravenclaw for their well designed pranks and their wit, not for their brains.

“Um…” the second mused, scratching the corner of his mouth thoughtfully.

“Bagman!” the other cried. “We tied Bagman up!”

“And his girlfriend” the second (by now Sirius had decided it was Fred) bit his nail. “and Lockhart, once we’d found him.”

“And that Zelda Mc-something bitch” The other (must be Will) finished.

“Only four, I admit its not our best ‘Puff capturing’ moment” Fred said solemnly.

Sirius laughed. “Good you got Lockhart, James would have gone ape if he’d seen him”

Sirius stopped laughing, his brain whizzing slightly. “Sorry, who did you say you tied up again? Bagman, McAnery, Lockhart and?”

“Bagman’s girlfriend. Dornbrook or something…” Will said off hand-ish-ly.

Will whimpered slightly “But she’s a Puff-loving Gryffindor…” He reasoned, adding a grin in hoping of wiping the look of incredulous anger from Sirius’s face.

“Go untie her and get out of my sight before I pound both of your faces in! Whoever said two heads are better than one must have been under the imperious curse, you two make Moretti look clever…”

The North twins scampered away leaving Sirius seething quietly. I’m not in the mood, Sirius sighed. Looking at his empty glass for the ump-teenth time that evening, Sirius decided to get a re-fill and that no Northern twins or any other shenanigans was going to stop him.

He headed back towards the large wooden door and through to the kitchen where he emptied the rest of a bottle of fire whiskey into his glass. He took a gulp and then headed into the sitting room where he was delighted to see a host of his favourite people.

Sitting on the nearest sofa were James and Marlene, glued by the hips and holding hands. Next to them, a good meter away sat Mary McDonald playing with her empty glass awkwardly. On the next arm chair sat Edward Lawther; his long legs spread out in front of him, casually playing with the hair of a girl sitting on the floor by his legs. Hunter Pascal sat on his best friends left on a wooden stool, having an engaging conversation with his next door neighbour Perella Brown, who sat snugly on Remus’s lap. Next to them sat Gideon Prewitt, his arm dangling around the only Slytherin invited to the party; Tabitha Dosey, his girlfriend. On Tab’s left was Peter Pettigrew, the Fourth and final Marauder.

Sirius smiled and walked over to James. “Remus and Perella?” he inquired.

James unglued himself from Marlene “Happened earlier, good for him to get his mind off Hope” he whispered in Sirius’s ear. Sirius chuckled.

He went and sat down next to Peter. “Wormtail!” he roared after downing the rest of his whiskey. “Where have you been? Avoiding me?”

Peter giggled. “I was with a girl!” He squeaked, going red.

“A what?!” Sirius asked wide eyed, then laughed “What a lucky girl. You could have told me you were on the look out for one of those… I could have set you up with one of my many cast off’s; like Mary over there” He pointed to Mary McDonald. “Great in bed, bit clingy though.”

“It was ‘Mary over there’” Peter mumbled.

Fuck I’m really drunk, Sirius thought, regretting what he had just said, but forgetting that he had even said it a couple of minutes later as he talked intently with Gideon Prewitt over both Tabatha Dosey and Peter’s laps.

“THOSE FUCKING NORTH TWINS!!” A voice screamed from the entrance to the room.

Hope stood in the door way covered in mud with twigs in her hair.

James looked at her in shock, “What happened?”

“They fucking tied me to a tree!” She stormed.

“They did what?!” Marlene said incredulously as the only two Ravenclaw’s in the room; Pascal and Lawther burst out laughing.

“I’ll tie you to a tree in a minute if you don’t shut it” Hope sneered at them, turning back to Marlene; “They tied me to a tree because they thought I was a Hufflepuff…”

“You are going out with a Hufflepuff, that’s worse than even being a Hufflepuff” reasoned Lawther, receiving a multitude of death stares from every Gryffindor in the room.

“I’d watch what you say Lawther; I wouldn’t want to accidentally ‘slip’ with my beaters bat next time we play Ravenclaw” Drawled Sirius winking at Hope.

Hope walked over to Sirius and sat down next to him. “I hate them, I really hate them.” she seethed under her breath.

“Now c’mon Hopsie, ‘hate’ is a very strong word.” He laughed.

“We broke up, Otto and I broke up. Seems being tied to a tree with him for an hour did my head in so I left him there. He’s still probably tied up to the tree now.” Hope mumbled looking down at her hands.

Sirius put an arm around her comfortingly. “I can beat him up in our next Quidditch match if you want?”

Hope smiled up at him. “That would be nice.”

Everyone’s attention was suddenly drawn to an owl flying in through one of the high up windows. It glided down and dropped a scruffy looking envelop on Hope’s lap.

“Who’d be sending letters at this time of night?” Remus mused, his arms still around Perella Brown who sat smugly on his lap.

Hope looked down at the letter, pursing her lips. She opened it carefully and read it. Everyone in the room was still watching her.